How to Make a Movie in the North “Picture your classic sports drama. The new coach meets his ragtag athletes at an underprivileged school and sets out to reform them through the miracle of sport. Cue the montage of painful drills, some tender moments, a dash of comic relief, and the sweat-soaked breakthrough. Coach and kids overcome their differences, triumph over their privileged prep-school contenders, and win the championship. The Grizzlies was almost that.” Samia Madwar – The Walrus – July 2019 Advertisements
What does it mean to be working class in Canada? “I first interviewed Wolfgang Lehmann, professor and acting chair of sociology at Western University, a decade ago. When I went looking for him recently to follow up on his work, I couldn’t recall his name, but I vividly remembered where he worked and what he’d found in his research. I interview many academics, and he’s the only one I can recall whose work caused tears to prick at my eyes. I remembered that Lehmann taught at Western because that’s where I did my undergrad, and I never forgot his research because he was talking about me, explaining my life in ways that simultaneously made a deep sort of sense and had never occurred to me before.” Shannon Proudfoot – Maclean’s – July 2019
The Power of a Good Sentence “English was my worst subject (next to Health) in high school right through to my second year of university, when I stopped taking it. I’d fallen afoul of the empty-rule syndrome. Don’t use the pronoun I in an essay; don’t begin sentences with but or because; write paragraphs in the topic sentence, body text, conclusion pattern (even if it bores you to death to say the same thing three times); vary sentence structure. The trouble with these rules is that no one told me why any of them would be especially useful.” Douglas Glover – The Walrus – July 2019
The climate crisis: These are Canada’s worst-case scenarios “At first there’s only the blue of the sea divided from the green of the countryside by an emblematic stripe of red sand beach. Then, right on cue, a lobster boat moseys into the frame, heading homeward to nearby Savage Harbour, P.E.I., with the morning’s haul. It’s just Prince Edward Island doing its job—delivering the sweet illusion that here, at least, everything remains just the way it’s always been.” John Geddes – Maclean’s – July 2019
Behind the scenes of the NBA 2K League, where Toronto chases more hoops glory “At the 2K League’s inaugural draft in 2018, NBA commissioner Adam Silver told reporters at Madison Square Garden that his league was about to welcome “a new generation of athletes” – more than a hundred video gamers who play a variation of basketball at an elite level, and who therefore would be considered members of the NBA in their own right.” Nick Faris – theScore – July 2019
Hello from the other side “Beth Wilson’s dream job slipped away on a sunny summer morning in 2016. She was seated at her desk inside KPMG’s downtown Toronto offices when the phone rang, delivering bad news: she would not be the firm’s next CEO. Wilson was shattered. She’d spent months gunning for the top position, plus more than a quarter-century climbing the ranks of the company—she’d never worked anywhere else. At home that night, she cried in her 18-year-old son’s arms, wondering what would come next. She didn’t want to be known as the woman who almost became the first female CEO of a Big Four firm.” Luc Rinaldi – Pivot – June 2019
How Neighbourhoods Are Built to Keep Out Single Women “Community consultations are meant to give local residents an opportunity to provide feedback about a change in their neighbourhood. In 2016, Toronto city officials acknowledged the limits of this process, reporting that those who attend these sessions are predominately “white, male, homeowners, and over the age of 55.” The narrowness of the demographic that participates in these consultations results in policies and decisions that respond to the interests of those most concerned about how new development or lower-income residents could reduce the values of their homes. What, then, happens when lower-income women participate?” Cheryll Case – The Walrus – June 2019
